New Delhi: Delhi, an Indian Premier League (IPL) venue, was reeling from the beginning of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the Indian cricket board turned a blind eye to the hundreds of people who were dying daily in the national capital. On the four IPL match days in Delhi, on three days more people died of Covid-10 than the number of runs scored by the competing teams.
On April 28, a total of 344 runs were score in the IPL match in Delhi and 368 people died of Covid in the city. On April 29, 343 runs were scored and 395 people died. And on May 2, 407 people died of the viruss while 385 runs were scored.
On the four days on which IPL matches were played in Delhi, 1,582 people died of Covid and 96,202 fresh cases were reported.
The BCCI, however, continued to prefer commerce over the humanity tragedy that is still unfolding before everyone.
The heartless BCCI took a very lame excuse that the IPL provided a few hours of relief or entertainment to people in Covid times. People countered this with: “When people in immediate or extended families are dying, and thousands are crying for oxygen to survive and hospital beds for treatment, who will look for entertainment?” Some people saw it as mocking the humongous tragedy.
Finally, when the Covid virus penetrated the IPL bio-bubble and four of the teams’ players and support staff returned positive test results the BCCI was forced to postpone the league — and not because of the nationwide human tragedy.
IPL match days in Delhi (Covid deaths and IPL runs scored):
April 28 (24 more deaths than runs scored):
Chennai Super Kings (173/3) vs SunRisers Hyderabad (171/3) = 344
Deaths 368; Fresh cases: 26,354 = 26,722
April 29 (52 more deaths than the runs scored):
Mumbai Indians (172/3) vs Rajasthan Royals (171/4) = 343
Deaths: 395; Fresh cases: 24,235 = 24,630
May 1 (25 more runs than the deaths):
Mumbai Indians (219/6) vs Chennai Super Kings (218/4) = 437 runs
Deaths: 412; Fresh cases: 25,219 = Total: 25,631
May 2 (22 more deaths than the runs scored):
Rajasthan Royals (220/3) vs SunRisers Hyderabad (165/8) = 385 runs
Deaths: 407; Fresh cases: 20,394 = 20,801